I agree that the battle felt small. After all of the knowledge we've accumulated in regards to the use of the One Power in battle, all we get are both sides standing across a field and massive, uncoordinated weaving and a throwaway line from Galad that the power of all those channelers was incredible?

There are wards, counter-wards, reversing weaves, direct weaves, indirect weaves, elemental weaves, gateways, etc., yet the channelers conveniently stood on one side of the battlefield for the most part, and didn't use a tenth of the tricks we've seen in smaller battles throughout the series.

I can't blame Sanderson; I have my own imagination to fill in the blanks, but the lack of specificity regarding numbers and the lack of creative strategies was underwhelming.

Heck, I'm even willing to buy that Androl/Pevara's mutual link was in RJ's notes, but this is precisely the type of knowledge that should have been used in the last and most decisive hour of fighting in defense of reality. If Egwene had Bonded Logain after blasting Taim, then proceeded to blast Demandred to oblivion or better yet, Shield him for trial, I would have been happy. Icing on the cake would have been the White Tower delivering Moghedien to the Seanchan as a punishment. There were just so many ways to make multiple scenarios escalate so that the resolution was at a crescendo in the story, but yet the payoffs were just so bland.

Ah well. I don't mind Cadsuane, but I do think it would have been fitting if something came of her resolution with the Wise Ones that Graendal needed to be taken down, even if it was Aviendha who ultimately did it. The scene had gravitas, but the energy was allowed to disperse.

For a book with so many battle scenes, it was particularly unsatisfying to me.

I'm not even getting into the numbers issue. I'm a channeler fan, so I particularly have been keeping track of the comparative strengths of each force, but some of the vagueness was just ridiculous. So in the battle for all reality, during which victory was hanging by a mere thread and the integrity of space/time itself was unfolding...you leave a sizable number of trained Yellow Ajah and all of your initiates in the medical facility. From a humanitarian standpoint, I get it - but in terms of how what the White Tower, Lightside Ashaman and Wise Ones were facing, every Circle would help.

I'm not too much of a fan of the non-channelers, even though I have interest in strategy and military history, so I'm not touching those with a ten foot shocklance.

TBQH I found myself more apprehensive of Faile's storyline, moreso than the actual battlefield drama. Pretty good way for the Falcon to end the series.